You'd think Delawareans would occasionally decide they've had about enough of Delaware. Apparently, you'd be wrong. Much to the joy of the state's booksellers, the pursuit of all things Delaware is a never-ending story. Larger publishing houses far from the state tailor illustrated books toward specific Delaware communities and people's sense of nostalgia. Local authors work to get their works onto shelves through small publishers, sometimes supplying bookstores out of their car trunks. It's a phenomenon that grows more noticeable during Christmas shopping season, when the pursuit of that last-minute gift for a finicky friend is frequently resolved with a Delaware-centric book, or a box of reprinted postcards.

I drove down Magnolia Avenue the other night, and was, for a moment, unsafe behind the wheel. I was hypnotized. The old hollow I thought I knew as Chilhowee Park was something like a vision in a dream, all lit up for the holidays. The historic old marble gazebo, lone leftover of one of the grand old expositions, decorated with lights, surrounded by electric evocations of dozens of Christmas trees. I couldn’t tell there was anything going on right then, but if I hadn’t been late for a family occasion I might have pulled over just to wade into the place and its memories. It used to be the most fun spot in East Tennessee, and sometimes maybe it still is.

Edythe Greene, Elizabeth Hepler and Mary Louise Rowden all met at Riverside Community College in a photography class. Now they're doing book signings at senior citizen centers and during farmers markets. Their book, "Lake Elsinore", is the most recent Inland Empire city featured in Arcadia Publishing's "Images of America" series. The book includes a photo of the Lookout Road House, the Elsinore Princess, even one of The Wreck cocktail lounge. It also shows the flooding.

Boring. That is the the word a young Rhea-Frances Tetley would use to describe the endless tales her family members would tell of their past. The stories would go in one ear and out the other until the day she was challenged by a college professor at Chapman College (now University) to learn them. "He knew more about my family than I did," Tetley said. "He made me do a history project on my family." She started listening carefully then to the stories of her great aunt Frances Tetley-Harthan, after whom she was named, and her father Richard Tetley. "I was able to talk to everyone in my family before they died," Tetley said. The stories became an incredible gift to Tetley, cementing her interest in local history and ultimately leading to the publication of her new book, "Crestline," part of the Images of America series published by Arcadia Publishing. It is due in bookstores next week.

Former slave quarters rested in the south. Film companies operated in the north. An opera house sat in the middle of the square. The place is Medford, a historic city that boasts famous residents such as aviator Amelia Earhart and ''Jingle Bells" composer James Pierpont. Patriot Paul Revere rode through to warn about the British. President Washington once dropped by to visit General John Brooks. To some of the city's current residents, these facts are well known. Others have no idea. Add modernization into the mix, and you've got some of Medford history slowly disappearing into obscurity.

BOARDMAN — A collection of Mill Creek Park history will help finance its future. Carol Potter, park development and marketing director, and Rick Shale, a park commissioner, collaborated to pen "Historic Mill Creek Park," which is available for $19.99 at area and online bookstores and through Arcadia Publishing at www.arcadiapublishing.com.

Don't tell Glenda Jackson to forget about the past. "I've been collecting local memorabilia for about 20 years. I find the past intriguing and fascinating," Jackson said. Jackson, 53, a graduate of Ventura College, recently produced her first book, "Ventura," that chronicles the city's history through vintage postcards.

Silicon Alleys Graveyard Shift By Gary Singh ARCADIA Publishing regularly puts out a series of books called Images of America. These historical photo books aren't that big—maybe 6 inches by 9 inches and around 120 pages or so—but they do a great job of chronicling the stories and histories of specific local niches. Some examples are Delaware in the Great Depression, Grand Canyon: Native People & Early Visitors and The Pawtucket Red Sox. There are over 3,000 of these quaint books in print, including a whopping 53 about Rhode Island locales and 25 about San Francisco locales. There's only one devoted to San Jose, released last January: San Jose's Historic Downtown, a rocking stroll through the photo history of that neighborhood, assembled by Bob Johnson and Lauren Miranda. Other releases of local interest in the series include photo histories of Santa Clara, Milpitas, Los Gatos, Pacifica, Campbell and Gilroy.

Since many San Franciscans moved here from elsewhere, key portions of the city’s history remain largely unknown. Books on San Francisco’s history tend to focus on Chinatown, Nob Hill, and the Wharf, or on grassroots struggles around the International Hotel and the Redevelopment Agency’s massive displacement of low-income people from SOMA and the Fillmore. Information of the history of the Mid-Market neighborhood has been all but unavailable, but that has now changed thanks to San Francisco resident Jack Tillmany’s wonderful book, Theatres of San Francisco

While many Philadelphians know that Frankford is one of the oldest communities in the city, few may realize that Frankford once fielded its very own team in the National Football League. Moreover, that team, the Frankford Yellow Jackets, once won the NFL Championship. This amazing story and more- much more- is captured in a new history book just off the presses. Called "Frankford," the book not only gives the reader a unique look back in time at a truly historic city community, but conveys a clear sense of the spirit that made that community great as well.

Nestled between booming commercial developments in Friendship Heights and a thriving downtown Bethesda, the Town of Somerset will quietly turn 100 years old next year.

PHELAN -- Route 66 may not be traveled on much these days, but the history and the fascination with this famous highway continues to live on. Two members of the California Route 66 Preservation Foundation hope to preserve this legacy with their new book, "Images of America: Route 66 in California."

Mill Creek Park administrators have released a new book with more than 200 images and a history of the first 100 years of the park.

This book is a pictorial overview of the Ann Arbor railroad from its creation to the present day Tuscola & Saginaw Bay Railroad (TSBY). Included is a section on the Railroad Car Ferries that where so much a part of the Ann Arbor railroad.

Did you know that the Mission Capistrano was a 532-foot long TR2-SE-A2 class tanker – equivalent to a Liberty ship -- named after San Juan Capistrano’s landlocked Mission and one of a fleet of 581 ships used during World War II? Probably not. But a picture of this ship, and 199 other vintage photographs appear in “San Juan Capistrano,” a book that was released Oct. 3. It was written by former resident Pamela Hallan-Gibson in collaboration with well-known resident archivist and columnist Don Tryon, his wife and author Mary Ellen Tryon, and the San Juan Capistrano Historical Society.

he history books are coming, the history books are coming! On the heels of a recently published photo book about part of Southwest County's past, Arcadia Publishing is out this week with a new book on the therapeutic mineral spas and resorts that attracted thousands of visitors to the region for most of the last century. And there's more to come.

Maria Brower is consumed with history. It's the resilient people who built - and then resurrected - a town from ashes seven times that captivate her. In her recently released book entitled, "Nevada City" she writes about the place she considers the most exciting in the Mother Lode.

Just when you thought you knew everything there was to know about the Green Bay Packers, author William Povletich, a Mequon native, raises the bar with his new book "Green Bay Packers: Legends in Green and Gold." Published as part of Arcadia Publishing's ongoing Images of Sports series, Povletich saw the need to have the Packers represented in this unique and very visual series.

The Images of America Series, of which this book is part, celebrates the history of neighborhoods, towns, and cities across the United States. This exceptionally interesting 6½"x9¼"historical book tells the complete story of a police department which began service in 1850, over 150 years ago. We have seldom, if ever, seen such a collection of pictures of the LAPD dating back to 1869, all of them from the Los Angeles Police Department Historical Society files.